a nationwide search was underway to locate ben and henry, they were on a holiday trip with their father in tennessee, they were supposed to return to georgia on december 24th, they never came back. last night theresa made a desperate plea. minutes after that interview, the boys called their mother, told her they were safe and that they were in austin, texas. police there tell cnn that someone at a hotel recognized the boy from the amber alert and our program and contacted police. theresa jumped on a plane to texas and was reunited with her sons just hours later. theresa and her sons have returned and they came here to our couch to share their story. she has not told them everything. but here's how our conversation went. >> tell us what happened at the hotel. >> we tried calling her, but it went to -- it seemed like her phone was shut off. and there was no -- it didn't turn -- it didn't answer. >> right. >> and then the man came in and said what? >> i forget. what man? >> the man came in and said, we've been looking for you everywhere? >> yeah. >> what happened. >> he said, we've been lo